After a major scandal and dwindling crowds, the Lakeland Outpouring concluded ...

The Lakeland Outpouring's final meeting was held at Ignited Church - six months after Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley launched daily meetings in the small Lakeland, Fla., community and left without warning (Aug. 11) in a cloud of scandal.

"None of us knew how long this would last," said Ignited Church senior pastor Stephen Strader, who announced on a blog Oct. 2 that, with the outpouring ending, he intends to set up a global apostolic base in Lakeland. "Ignited Church has had a vision [for] an International Apostolic Center. The Lakeland Outpouring has catapulted our vision forward."

Strader said with the support of "dozens of major leaders" for his apostolic center, he envisions a place for hosting conferences, special events and training workshops. He also announced the creation of Ignited Network of Ministries (INM), an initiative to connect Ignited Church with Lakeland-spawned revivals worldwide.

It was his FFM board in Abbotsford, British Columbia, that later announced that Bentley had confessed to an inappropriate relationship with a female staff member. At the time, a senior board member told Charisma that Bentley's alcohol consumption also had "crossed the line."

Rick Joyner, renowned false prophet and heretical founder of Morning Star Ministries in Fort Mill, S.C., has since taken the lead in helping Bentley find 'healing and restoration.' Joyner appeared on the platform in Lakeland in June when Bentley publicly submitted himself to the oversight of apostolic leaders Bill Johnson, John Arnott and Ché Ahn.

Joyner told Charisma that Johnson and Texas pastor Jack Deere would assist him in Bentley's restoration. He admitted that the process would not be easy. "Todd does have some serious issues he must deal with, and he knows it more than anyone," Joyner said.

Bentley's faith and exuberance impressed seasoned, prominent revivalists while his wild tactics often tempered the enthusiasm of other leaders. When praying for healing, the tattooed evangelist was known to hit the sick in the stomach with his knee in a move more common among wrestlers than preachers. Bentley even recounted kicking a woman in the face in an act of "obedience to the Lord."

Yet, with the exception of a few ministers, many charismatic leaders chose to overlook Bentley's peculiar methods for the sake of what they saw as "fruit." They claimed the revival stirred many Christians worldwide to pursue God with a renewed hunger.

Apparently Harvard graduate Barack Obama [and new President of the United States of America!] has trouble with the English language. Or he says one thing when he speaks to Jewish people and another when he speaks to CNN.

Under questioning from reporters, Obama, the Democratic Party's contender for U.S. president, retracted his statement to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) convention in June that Jerusalem should remain Israel's undivided capital.

He blamed "poor phrasing" and careless syntax for leading Jewish people to think he meant all of Jerusalem should remain in Israeli hands. Here is what he told AIPAC:

'Now let me be clear Israel's security is sacrosanct It is non-negotiable; the Palestinians need a state--the Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive and that allows them to prosper, but any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel's identity as a Jewish state with secure, recognized, defensible borders. And Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided.'

But when questioned by CNN's Fareed Zakaria, Obama said, "You know, the truth is that this was an example where we had some poor phrasing in the speech. And we immediately tried to correct the interpretation that was given.... It is an example of us making sure that we are careful in terms of our syntax."

Then he threw the onus for making peace back on Israel, adding that Israelis must "recognize that their long-term viability as a Jewish state is going to depend on their ability to create peace with their neighbors."

[There are so many examples of this kind of dissembling (lying!) by Obama that one wonders whether he has already proven far worse than his recent predecessors, Clinton & Bush - or is he just lost in the crowd of lying politicians!?]

The following has been circulated widely in 'Watchman' ministries in recent months and originates from one of Charles Haddon Spurgeon's many warnings against 'the downgrade' in doctrine and the deep evangelical compromise of his day, especially in the Baptist Union. The sermon was titled 'Progressive Theology' and was published in the Sword and the Trowel, April 1888. Spurgeon labelled the mood of the hour 'ANYTHINGARIANISM' and warned:

'It is thought to be mere bigotry to protest against the mad spirit which is now loose among us. PAN-INDIFFERENTISM IS RISING LIKE THE TIDE; who can hinder it? WE ARE ALL TO BE AS ONE, EVEN THOUGH WE AGREE IN NEXT TO NOTHING. It is a breach of brotherly love to denounce error. Hail, holy charity! Black is white; and white is black. The false is true; the true is false; the true and the false are one. Let us join hands, and never again mention those barbarous, old-fashioned doctrines about which we are sure to differ. Let the good and sound men for liberty's sake shield their 'advanced brethren'; or, at least, GENTLY BLAME THEM IN A TONE WHICH MEANS APPROVAL. After all, there is no difference, except in the point of view from which we look at things: it is all in the eye, or, as the vulgar say, 'it is all my eye'! In order to maintain an open union, let us fight as for dear life against any form of sound words, since it might restrain our liberty to deny the doctrines of the Word of God. ... THIS SPIRIT IS IN ALL THE CHURCHES, MORE OR LESS; INDEED, IT SEEMS TO BE IN THE AIR. The prince of the power of the air is loosed in an extraordinary manner for a season, misleading even the godly, and triumphing greatly in those whose willing minds yield full assent to his deceitful teachings.

[P.S. read the works of Billy Graham, Rick Warren, the 'Emerging Church' and any one of dozens of new fads that have crept stealthily into the church in the last half-century or so and you will find them described here in Spurgeon's synopsis of the view to be found of 'Anythingarianism' in the only authority believers should adhere to - the Bible where we find the only True Word of God!]

Know the reality of eternity in heaven by believing on Jesus Christ as your Lord & Saviour!